The Language of the Flowers was a popular method to express feelings where words might be improper, but did you know other means of doing so? Some ladies used their parasols, as well as their fans, gloves, and hankies to flirt with a gentleman (or alternatively, tell them to shove it!). — Bree

“This boy, then. He wasn't new. Wasn't one of the worst people in the common room, those rotten rich boys - like Mr. Jailkeeper - who could not fathom a world beyond their own farts. Was a good working class lad, so he'd heard. Had a bit of a weird looking face, and a bit of a weird thing for preaching. Still.”

Appearance: Standing at an above average 5’5 Elladora is a curvaceous and striking woman and the years have not robbed her of the infamous Black beauty and despite the years rolling by she is still a remarkably attractive woman. With dark pools for eyes and high cheekbones one cannot help but be drawn to her face, however, there is a coldness to Elladora that has put many off. Though undeniably beautiful in face and body she has little warmth in her eyes and altogether too few smiles grace her lips when she is away from her family. She dresses exquisitely, as one would expect for a lady of her station, and is rarely seen outside the colour black.

History:1850: Born the third child and eldest daughter of Cygnus and Ella Black, she is named for her mother and is a welcome addition. They already have two boys so a girl is just a pleasant addition now rather than a disappointment and Elladora never suffers the disdain of any member of her family as Isla later will. She is a quiet, unassuming child who causes little stir and her younger years are as pleasant as anyone's with everything she might want available and two older brothers as her heroes.

1853: Though for the rest of her life Elladora will eternally sympathise with Phineas' greater sense of loss she doesn't really recall much about the death of her oldest brother. He was simply there and gone and to her three year old mind and despite recognising pictures of him, she scarcely remembers him. More notable to the toddler was that Phineas seemed deeply upset and she made a point of being by his side as much as she could to help him feel better, though neither of them recall this.

1857: Much to Elladora's chagrin another daughter is born to the couple. She dislikes not being the youngest, not being the only girl, and not having a papa in that order and it takes her years before she thinks of Isla as anything other than a pest. In her anger she takes great pleasure in bullying Isla as much as she can get away with, leading to her first display of magic, a spell that renders Isla mute.

1859: Phineas goes to Hogwarts leaving her mildly distraught. She misses him terribly and counts the days between his holidays because she gets bored of Isla easily and wants her big brother!

1861: At long last Elladora received her letter and attends Hogwarts in September with her brother. She is elated to be the youngest, even if it is just in the eyes of their fellow students, and also to join him in Slytherin. There is not a day she is not proud to be a Slytherin and a Black. Generally speaking she excels at school, particularly in Charms and Astronomy, although she disdains Care of Magical Creatures and is never able to be truly Outstanding at Potions, like Phineas, something that greatly frustrates her.

1866: She achieves high OWL results and is made an offer by a graduating seventh year pure blood to marry him that summer. She refuses him immediately and thinks him utterly lacking in decorum. At the end of this year Phineas leaves school and she misses him heartily, although not with the same desperation as when he was there and she was not - later in life Elladora will consider those five years in which they were both at the castle at the same time to be amongst the happiest of her life.

1868: Elladora graduates in the summer, having been a successful prefect and head girl, because #obviously. She is also eternally grateful that she never had to share an inch of the school with Isla, who doesn't attend until that September.

Though she achieved some personal growth and her heart grew three sizes due to a mild liking for a few people poorer than her it did not help her with her debut in the summer and much to her jubilation she soon realised that the more she ignored the men around her the less interested in her they became, despite her obvious attributes.

1869: In the autumn of this year Phineas begins teaching at Hogwarts and though Elladora has never before seen the point of a man with a profession she immediately changes her mind because obviously Phineas knows what he's about. From this point on her opinion shifts to the belief that a man without something to occupy him is liable to fall into foolishness.

1872: Hoping she can avoid marriage forever Elladora implores her mother to allow her some kind of hobby. She doubts she will be allowed an occupation and doesn't really wish for one, but after much asking she is allowed to read the more technical books on magic in the library that she had previously been forbidden from. She discovers that though she still has little mastery over potions, she has quite a knack for other things and she expands her knowledge happily to pass the time, taking great pleasure in the knowledge that the more learned she becomes the less likely it is that she will acquire a man.

1876: Phineas, after a year of courtship during which time Elladora was convinced he was just experimenting to see if he could get a wife, marries Ursula Flint. For the first time in their lives Elladora and Isla share an opinion about something. Elladora thinks she's a pretty little thing but suspects flightiness and keeps as keen an eye on her as she can.

1877: The whole family relocate to Hogsmeade, other than Ella, who moves to France. Elladora would have joined her - Phineas’ new wife is a bore, but she refuses to allow for the possibility of Isla becoming fond of her - so instead she follows her siblings to Scotland. By this point Ursula is pregnant and though Elladora still distrusts the girl she would prefer to have her under her eye than out of it.

Later in the year Sirius enters the world and Elladora is strangely fond of her little nephew, even if she thinks Phineas might be tempting fate sightly by naming him for their ill-omened brother. For the years afterwards, in which Phineas neglected his wife and barely saw her, she witnessed Ursula's struggles and found herself with no sympathy - the girl was restless because she didn't understand how important the Headmaster of Hogwarts was clearly!

1881: After the revelation of Ursula's infidelity Phineas passes the control of the estate over to Elladora and she finds that she truly likes being in charge of a household. Having long since abandoned thoughts of having a home of her own Elladora determined to convince Phineas to leave her in charge as much as possible. In September Ursula gives birth to the illegitimate child and immediately withdrew from it. Having no interest in the child, but recognising that it was strong and healthy Elladora made the only decision that seemed available to her: she had the child swapped with a sickly thing from the slums of Manchester. The slum baby soon died in the cold winter, as it was always intended to, and Elladora bundled the baby off to never be seen again. It saved her brother the ignominy of having to acknowledge the baby's existence, as Elladora knew would be impossible for him.

1882: Elladora is drafted for the expedition. She does as little as she possibly can and hates everybody in her group apart from Mariana Macnair, who she gravitates to as they are of an age and background. The only other saving grace is that the child that has allowed Ursula to wrestle the control of the estate back off her dies in the womb. Elladora is sorry for Phineas, assuming the child was his of course, but she has no sympathy for Ursula and though she notices some odd behaviour from her sister-in-law afterwards, she is never able to catch Ursula doing anything she shouldn't.

Other irritations that year include Isla's scandalous elopement with a Mr Bob Hitchins. Elladora is furious and refuses to acknowledge her younger sister - secretly though she is almost glad. Without Isla around she has more chance of taking the house back from Ursula and less opposition from someone more sympathetic.

1883: Ursula gives birth to another son, Phineas II. She does not care for this one half as much and she puts that down to Sirius being the first child to capture her interest at all.

1884: Isla gives birth to a little girl and Elladora wishes she didn't know. Ursula is pregnant again. Elladora has no maternal bones so doesn't care. Obviously she suffers the effects of the plague but as she is the last woman who would ever be done in by laughter of all things she soon rallies and recovers. The house being damaged by the fire is significantly more annoying of course but it's hardly as though they're without funds and the means to fix things.

Other disasters that year incluse Ursula’s waters breaking on her feet. She is summarily unimpressed but swayed by her new nephew, Arcturus.

1886: On her birthday Ursula takes them both off to get their nipples pierced as per the fashion and though Elladora balks at the very notion she goes through with it to make a point. Later in the year Belvina is born. Elladora is less enamoured of her niece than she is her nephews. She also kills and mounts her very first house elf this year.

1887:Something about Tatty Lestrange and how much she likes her. Elladora ends up kissing a woman under the mistletoe - sadly not one of the ones she might wish to be in the situation with - and somehow ends the year being accused of being heterosexual in Witch Weekly.

Personality:
Elladora has always lived her own way. Marriage and children were never things she craved and through choice she avoided both, finding more pleasure in her own company than that of anybody else. Foregoing the more traditional route for a woman of her class has left Elladora free to pursue her own interests, although it has also left her almost constantly in the company of her brother’s wife and whilst she has a great deal of time for her equally emotionally moribund brother she is deeply unsettled by Ursula in innumerable ways. Despite that, they have managed to forge something of a bond and though she would never say it to anybody Elladora is considerably fonder of her sister-in-law than she is her actual sister.

She is waspish with those she doesn't like and cordial with those of her own class she can stand. She has very few friends, largely finding companionship in family or women she has known for long enough that they do not require her to make an effort to be especially friendly, and her keen mind makes her quite arrogantly sure that she is always right.

Other:
+ Ursula made her get her nipples pierced and so as not to lose face she has kept them. They remind of her that curious birthday morning when she and Ursula saw each other's boobs.
+ She is a taxidermy fan. So far she has three snakes, a badger, several rats and, unbeknownst to her family, has the head of a previous elf mounted in her bedroom.
+ The only person she allows to argue with her is Phineas.
+ She is an asexual lesbian.

Sample Roleplay Post:
Elladora inclined her head politely as the younger woman took her seat. She seldom extended invitations of any sorts to other women – or men, but the latter was hardly something that was expected of her – but Miss Lestrange was that rarest of all breeds: someone that did not fill Ella with a variety of unpleasant emotions, ranging from mild irritation to outright disdain.

In fact, though it would be entirely inappropriate to admit to it and would no doubt cause both of them no end of embarrassment, she even rather liked Miss Lestrange. At the very least it was quite pleasant to be acquainted with somebody that understood her own situation perfectly. An upright, upstanding brother. A sister-in-law that seemed utterly unable to live up to the standards of their illustrious names: at least from what she had heard from her own lifelong, living curse of a sister-in-law.

“I quite agree. Although I often find that once I am sat alone precious few individuals seem inclined to join me,” she said with a slight curl of her lip. “I cannot imagine why that might be.”

Frankly if she hadn’t been entirely aware of her own reputation Elladora would never leave the house for fear of being forced to engage with other women of her social circle. Sometimes it was beneficial to have Ursula muttering darkly to her flighty friends about her taxidermy room.